It seems like wherever you go at the moment, Twitter is being talked about. It’s all over the web, on most TV programmes, in numerous adverts and constantly on the radio. There is literally no getting away from it right now and while I’m no Mystic Meg, I don’t predict that’s going to change anytime soon. It won’t be too long before everyone’s going to be signed up and unless you want to appear as ancient as Brotherton’s Special Collections area, I suggest you bite the blue bullet and jump on the Twitter bandwagon before it’s too late.
For those that are completely unbeknown, Twitter is a social network like no other. It is an interactive micro-blogging site that allows you to follow other people’s updates and answer the question ‘What are you doing?’ in just 140 characters. Sound familiar? Fear not those who lives are continuously hindered by a Facebook obsession, it is worlds apart. Twitter is not just a social network. It is an event coordinator, a business tool, a news reporting service and a marketing utility.
Unlike Facebook, Twitter allows you to keep track of updates from anyone you want to, be it close friends, celebrities, sports personalities, musicians or news feeds from around the world. You can effortlessly follow updates from big companies and top employers at a mouse click, giving you the upper hand in job interviews, topical debates, gossip with friends and everything in between.
Need more convincing? Here are my top eight reasons why I would urge you to sign up:
1) Celebrity Stalking
Whether your celebrity obsession is Kelly Rowland or Lorraine Kelly, Harry Styles or Harry Derbridge, Wayne Rooney or Lil Wayne or none of the above, the likelihood is that your favourite celebrity is using Twitter. It’s not just for the fame-hungry, perma-tanned, ‘look-at-me-falling-out-of-a-nightclub’ celebrities either. Stephen Fry, Barack Obama and Richard Branson are all very famous, slightly more intelligent Twitter users that share regular life-updates with their hoards of followers.
(Tip: Look for a blue tick next to a celebrity’s name, it means they’ve been verified – it’s actually them, not an imposter)
2) Finding a Job or Work Experience
If you use Twitter sensibly you can really maximize your career prospects with just a few intelligent choices. Follow big names in your prospective industry, post about their topical business matters and don’t be afraid to interact with potential employers and companies. I know at least two people who have gained work experience placements through Twitter; play your cards right and who knows what doors it could open for you.
3) Driving Traffic to Your Blog or Website
As I’ve said before, Twitter is amassive marketing tool. If you have a blog or website you want to promote, Twitter can be the opportune platform to do so. Posting about your latest blog entry, a website or even a new Her Campus article will get attention to your pages fast. The more followers you have, the more traffic you’ll obtain so tweet to your heart’s content, spread the online word and watch your hit count grow.
4) Free Stuff
Students being students, we all love a good freebie and following the right people can give you supreme access to endless offers and giveaways. There are lots of student-related Twitter profiles that are constantly feeding their followers with irresistible deals and discounts, @studentbeans and @MyUNiDAYS to name a few.
5) Getting the Breaking News Before it Breaks
One of the best things about Twitter is the fact that you can literally discover things as they happen, often well before they break onto mainstream news. The left-hand ‘trending topics’ are great ways to find out about big stories before anyone else. I discovered the deaths of Amy Winehouse, Osama Bin Laden and just recently Whitney Houston a good hour before they appeared on national headlines.
(Tip: Hash tags (#) are used in tweets to indicate a ‘topic.’)
(Tip: All ‘#RIP*****’ trends should be taken with extreme caution. If they were all true, let’s just say that Paris Hilton, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift would ‘not be with us’ anymore.)
6) Twitter-wars
A brand new style of spicy celebrity cat-fight has hit the radar and we have the divine privilege to see it first-hand and from the comfort of our own homes. Twitter-wars have been all over the news in the past year or so; the most high-profile Twitter slanging matches include Britney Spears vs. Kanye West, Lindsay Lohan vs. Samantha Ronson and Joey Barton vs. the whole cast of ‘The Only Way is Essex.’
7) Entertainment Gold
There are some hilarious spoof accounts that are bound to give you a giggle when Uni work is getting you down. Here are three crackers:
@oldmansearch – 82 year old Norman was told by his son that Twitter was a new search engine, like Google. Anything he tweets is therefore something he thinks he’s searching for on the internet. My favourite tweets include: ‘tour de france age maximum’ and ‘eggs give me a headache’ (sic).
@EdwardBoyle– The incredibly entertaining twitter feed of our very own Edward Boyle library. Follow him for twitter wars with @TheBrotherton, confessions about Marjorie Ziff and other generally amusing comments from inside the library walls.
@Queen_UK– Did you know our beloved Queen Elizabeth is actually a gin-drinking, cursing, down-to-earth celebrity lover like the rest of us? Follow the queen’s parody account for silly, light-hearted tweets on ‘one’s’ thoughts and life updates.
8) Feel-Good Twitter Feeds
Follow @GirlDictionary for girl-power goodness, @TheNoteboook for soppy one-liners or @Tweets2Motivate for a daily dose of inspirational language in under 140 characters. Not all Twitter accounts are individuals and sometimes it’s nice to read the odd encouraging tweet while you’re scanning through your Twitter feed – it’s definitely worth sprinkling it with some quotidian cuteness.
So what are you waiting for? Sign up to Twitter today and make sure you follow @HerCampusLeeds while you’re at it!